What are you doing with your life?

Before we left on sabbatical people asked me what I would be doing during our year abroad. I usually demurred at this question since I really had no idea. I would say something like…write a book, do some writing and take up painting. Ha-ha-ha. Now that I am here I can answer the question with a simple response: just living, but living a little larger than usual.

Laundry day again.

Much of each day I do exactly what I did in Madison. I keep the trains running on time. I do dishes and laundry, grocery shop, wipe blobs of toothpaste off the bathroom counter, nag children about homework, take kids to school and bring them home again. All of these things take longer in Spain because my language skills are limited, I don’t have a car, our washing machine is smaller and there is no Target. It’s my same life but here I get to do these things with a sunny sky overhead, beautiful architecture in the background and parrots flying down the street. I also try to channel my well-dressed Spanish neighbor ladies and pretend to be glamorous as I trundle down the street with my granny cart and sneakers.

Lighting up at 10K

I also spend a lot of my time walking. I got a Fitbit a few weeks ago and I have become mildly obsessed. It vibrates seductively when I hit 10,000 steps, which I usually do by about 1pm….then I keep walking. Mike has suggested I up the goal so it doesn’t vibrate until 15K steps but somehow it gives me a little high to feel the zzzz of the wrist band and know I will do more. Not having a car has been great for steps but my feet hurt and I use my step count to justify not going to the gym, which is probably not a great idea.

Cooking class in Morocco

The past months I have also spent an obscene amount of time planning our various adventures. I have become an expert at planning trips and I spend hours comparing prices, booking flights, hotels, activities, restaurants, routes, etc. I have planned trips that have included performances, cooking classes, camping with Bedouins, youth hostels, Gladiator fighting lessons, donkey, horse and camel riding, snorkeling, a picnic with a Berber farmer, camper vanning, visiting friends and even the occasional nice hotel. I have just finished planning our last adventure and now feel DONE. We will come back to Madison exhausted but sated.

Venetian canal

When I told people I would paint while I was here it was said in jest. Barcelona was home to Miro, Picasso, and Dali so it was a joke. And then in October I bought a children’s set of acrylic paints and got started. And then I bought more paints and brushes, and then a book and then more paint, all the while just playing around. And then I quit my Spanish class and started painting classes. Now I paint 2-3 times each week. I find it incredibly hard and it challenges me in new ways. I have a lot of difficultly seeing what color things actually are and understanding how to simulate shape and light with paint. I have been trying for days to learn to paint clouds and am still stuck.  I always thought that puffy clouds were white. Turns out they are white and blue and grey and purple. I told Mike that I plan to turn our home office into an art studio when we get back. I am only half kidding.

Enjoying a cacot.

The last category of my activity would fall into the category of exploring and saying “yes”. Ask me if I want to have a wine-soaked lunch at a new restaurant, my answer is yes. Ask me if I want to spend the day at a graffiti expo, yes again. Ask me if I want to do a civil war tour of Barcelona, I will pause, since it sounds rather boring, but I will eventually come around to yes. Ask me if I want to go to a burlesque performance…you guessed it, yes. Ask me if I want shot of just about anything…yes…although I will regret it. I have been trying to be open to all kind of new people, experiences, adventures and ideas.

So, that is what I have been doing. We have four more months and lots of guest coming so I will definitely have to add entertaining to my list. And, now I have to come up with an answer to the question, “What will you do when you go home”. For now my answer is “write that book I have been meaning to write”, ha-ha-ha…

Stay tuned!